The Hermitage - Tennessee History for Kids

The Hermitage

Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States. For most of his adult life he lived at The Hermitage, a mansion and cotton plantation in Nashville.

Today the home in which Andrew Jackson lived is preserved much the way it looked when he was alive. We suggest that you visit The Hermitage, that you tour the grounds, and that you learn as much as you can about the life of Andrew Jackson. You can start by clicking here and reading a short biography of his life.

Now we're going to take you on a short tour.

Andrew Jackson's dress uniform and one of Rachel Jackson's finest dresses.

When you get to The Hermitage, your first stop will be at the Andrew Jackson Visitor Center. They have a 16-minute film about the life of President Jackson, and there is also a small museum with changing exhibits that you can tour that has artifacts from his life and The Hermitage grounds. Here is the thing to remember: ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS. There are many tour guides, and they know a lot about Andrew Jackson and The Hermitage. If you don't ask questions, your visit to The Hermitage isn't going to be as fun as it would be otherwise.

Hannah Jackson, a slave
Photo: Courtesy The Hermitage

One thing that you will notice at the Visitor's Center is that a lot of the displays have to do with the African-American slaves that used to live at The Hermitage. Why is this? Because most of the people who actually lived at The Hermitage during the time of Andrew Jackson were slaves. At its peak there were 150 slaves living at The Hermitage. In recent years, we have learned a lot more about the lives of these slaves.

Cedar trees lining the driveway to The Hermitage. If you look through the trees you can see the mansion.

Eventually you will want to leave the Visitor's Center and walk the footpath to the museum. Now there is something that we want to mention about the museum grounds as you walk through them. His nickname may have been Old Hickory, but Andrew Jackson loved cedar trees. You'll see them all over the grounds, and the guitar-shaped driveway to the mansion (what else would you expect in Nashville?) is lined by cedar trees. Some of them are very old; in fact, Jackson actually supervised the planting of some of the ones that are still there. However, many of them have died either of disease or been taken down by tornado since he planted them. Many large cedar trees came down in the tornado that hit Nashville in April 1998, and small cedar trees have been planted to replace them since.

Guests being greeted at The Hermitage mansion

When you get to the front porch you'll be greeted by a tour guide who will take you into the mansion. They know a lot more about the interior of the place, but here are a couple of cool things that we will tell you in advance:

* Many preserved homes such as this one contain REPRODUCTIONS of things that were there when people used to live there. Not this one. Almost all the things in The Hermitage -- including the furniture and decorations -- are the exact same ones that were there when Andrew Jackson lived there. Or.. "if President Jackson walked in this house today, he'd recognize just about everything," as our tour guide said.

President Jackson's bedroom
Photo: Courtesy The Hermitage

* Because these things are very old, each room is actually behind glass.
* The vivid wallpaper that adorns the hallways was made in France. It was made in squares. If you look closely at the walls, you can tell this.
* The bed in President Jackson's room is in the one in which he died, on June 8, 1845.

Jackson's library
Photo: Courtesy The Hermitage

* The books and newspapers in President Jackson's office are the ones he owned and read when he was alive. By the way, he subscribed to and read 15 DIFFERENT NEWSPAPERS!!! That should inspire us all to read more, shouldn't it?
* As the guides will tell you, the two bedrooms upstairs on one side of the house were for children, while the two bedrooms on the other side were for guests. Ask your tour guide for the names of some of the people who stayed in the guest rooms.
* There is an interesting story about the dining room at The Hermitage that the tour guides may not tell you. It has to do with another president named Theodore Roosevelt, and it has to do with a famous coffee called Maxwell House Coffee. Click here to read it.

President Jackson's tomb

Now we are going to take you out onto the grounds and show you some of the more interesting things that we found.

First of all, here is the tomb of Andrew and Rachel Jackson. Rachel Jackson died first, by the way, on December 22, 1828. In fact it is important to remember that Rachel Jackson died after her husband was elected president, but before he assumed office. When Andrew Jackson was inaugurated, he was still very sad about his wife's recent death.

By the way, many dignitaries have paid their tributes at this tomb, including U. S. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Ronald Reagan.

Dr. Lawrence's tombstone

There is a small family graveyard next to the tomb, and this is the grave of Dr. John Lawrence. Dr. Lawrence isn't necessarily an important person in Tennessee history, but this is certainly one of the most interesting gravestones ever created. It looks like a tree stump! As it turns out, Dr. Lawrence was a member of the Woodsmen of the World, a fraternal group whose members often have this kind of tombstone.

Alfred's cabin

There is a log cabin on the grounds that used to be the home of an African-American slave named Alfred. Here is what the interior of the cabin looks like.

Alfred lived at The Hermitage longer than anyone else. He was born here and died here and was buried in The Hermitage garden next to Andrew Jackson's tomb.

Alfred Jackson
Photo: Courtesy The Hermitage

Here is a photograph of Alfred, whose last name would have been Jackson since his "owner's" name was Jackson.

We found this sign about Alfred to be quite interesting. Click on this photo and read it.

The cabins where Andrew and Rachel Jackson originally lived.

A short ways away are these two log cabins that are known as the "First Hermitage." Believe it or not, these two cabins were originally where President Jackson and his wife Rachel lived, before they built the big house. However, when the Jacksons lived here the farmhouse on the left was two stories tall. The cabin to the right was the original kitchen/slave cabin, where Alfred Jackson was born.

Cotton growing at The Hermitage

Another thing that you will notice on the grounds is some cotton growing. This is really cool! Why? Because when Andrew Jackson lived here, The Hermitage was a 1,000-acre cotton plantation. Cotton that was grown here was picked by hand by slaves, then run through a horse-powered cotton gin to remove the seeds, then packed in bales, and then shipped to New Orleans.

Students work with archaeologists at The Hermitage.
Photo: Courtesy The Hermitage

There is a short trail called the Archeology Trail that you can walk, and we suggest that you do so. Here is the story behind this trail:

As we mentioned before, most of the people who actually lived on the grounds of The Hermitage were African-American slaves. Most of them lived in small cabins, and as the years went by the cabins fell down, or wore torn down, or burned down.

Archaeologists are people who learn about the past by digging things out of the ground that people used to use and studying them. In the 1970s, archeologists began digging up the ground at The Hermitage and finding all sorts of things used by slaves who lived there. The Archaeology Trail shows you some of what they have found, and continue to find.

The Muddy Spring

Besides the remains of cabins, here is something else that is important that you'll find on the Archaeology Trail: two springs!

Why is this such a big deal? Because if it weren't for these springs, The Hermitage wouldn't be here! When Andrew Jackson moved here more than 200 years ago, there was no water company to pump water to your house, and he lived too far from the Cumberland River to get his water directly from it. Because of these springs and the Sinking Creek, this was a good place to have a house and plantation.

President Andrew Jackson
Painting by Ralph E.W. Earl, c. 1834
Courtesy The Hermitage

This ends the virtual tour. If you want to really see the place, you need to go there.

Click here to be taken to The Hermitage's official web site. On that site you will find more information about The Hermitage, resources for students and teachers, and instructions on how to organize a field trip.

The Hermitage is maintained by a private non-profit organization, so there is a fee to visit. In fact, has been open since 1889 and is one of the oldest historic site museums in the United States.